The University of Michigan has participated in the EPA's ENERGY STAR Buildings program to improve the energy efficiency for its buildings. A program to evaluate the building energy performance was established. The College of Architecture and Urban Planning's Building Technology Research Facility (BTRF) is a part of the program. Working under the Facility Planning and Design, the BTRF is responsible for analyzing the data on the buildings' energy consumption. A list of buildings to be evaluated and planned for improvement has been developed. Currently there are 6 phases. There are 20 buildings in each phase to be evaluated.

EPA's ENERGY STAR Buildings program is a voluntary energy-efficiency program for U.S. commercial buildings. The ENERGY STAR Buildings program focuses on profitable investment opportunities available in most buildings using proven technologies. A central component of the program is the five stage implementation strategy that takes advantage of building system interactions, enabling building owners to achieve additional energy savings while lowering capital expenditures. Through these actions, Partners can expect to reduce total building energy consumption by 30% on average.